Faulty Climate control / air conditioning

[Samson44]

I have a 2007 model RX400H and an experiencing the exact same thing. Im going to try hitting the series of buttons simultaneously tomorrow and see if I get the same error code. Your post has been very informative.

 

[inchley313]

I have a 2003 RX300 that started doing a similar thing! I noticed a couple of years ago when driving down from IOM to Yeovil, after a couple of hours, the air con stopped blowing cold. It would leak out condensation all night then be fine the following day. Next time I took it to england, the drivers vents started blowing warmer than the passenger ones. Thought it may need a regas but the A/C clutch is still kicking in so indicating enough gas in system.

Then one day when I left the car running, I noticed a loud grinding noise from the A/C compressor so unsure which way to go with it at the moment. Do I regas and potentially waste the money on having to have it done again once any other work is done or do I just bite the bullet and replace the compressor??

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[scudney]

Have it checked over to find the exact fault,once that has been fixed then regas,otherwise you will end up having to regas twice 

[PCM]

8 hours ago, inchley313 said:

I have a 2003 RX300 that started doing a similar thing! I noticed a couple of years ago when driving down from IOM to Yeovil, after a couple of hours, the air con stopped blowing cold. It would leak out condensation all night then be fine the following day. Next time I took it to england, the drivers vents started blowing warmer than the passenger ones. Thought it may need a regas but the A/C clutch is still kicking in so indicating enough gas in system.

Then one day when I left the car running, I noticed a loud grinding noise from the A/C compressor so unsure which way to go with it at the moment. Do I regas and potentially waste the money on having to have it done again once any other work is done or do I just bite the bullet and replace the compressor??

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 

I would take it to a local trusted independent - tell them the problem...

I know I often think I know what a solution is when my car has an issue - I am generally wrong!

Good luck. Love air con as the days get hotter...

 

[m4rkw]

The fact that it blows cold out of one side means it's not an issue with the core components of the AC system (eg compressor, low refrigerant, etc). If there were an issue there then it wouldn't blow cold at all.  When the AC is on its always cooling to its max capacity, the air is then re-heated on its way to the vents according to the climate control settings. So the chances are its a vent or a thermostat, I doubt it will be very expensive to fix.

[PCM]

13 hours ago, m4rkw said:

The fact that it blows cold out of one side means it's not an issue with the core components of the AC system (eg compressor, low refrigerant, etc). If there were an issue there then it wouldn't blow cold at all.  When the AC is on its always cooling to its max capacity, the air is then re-heated on its way to the vents according to the climate control settings. So the chances are its a vent or a thermostat, I doubt it will be very expensive to fix.

This post reminded me...

And I agree - sounds like a ducting control type thing ...

In my RX300, it would make an annoying ticking noise when the air con was on, Drove me mad!

It was fixed under Warranty ( is your car still within the 6 months. )

The issue was a small cog - plastic(?) - that wears out eventually...

Maybe similar? Try all the control options to look for a pattern? 

 

[Mihanicos]

Do you have the same codes too? B 1421 and B 1424?

[PCM]

23 minutes ago, Mihanicos said:

Do you have the same codes too? B 1421 and B 1424?

I don't know.

Lexus fixed it - about 4 years ago ...

[m4rkw]

Just to add on the subject of re-gassing - if the side that works is sufficiently cold then there's no point in re-gassing because the system is working and has enough refrigerant.

[MUDGUTS]

Hi,

I have a very similar problem on my Wife’s 06 RX 300.

I had the AC re gassed last summer and the guy who did this noted that we could only get cool air from the left hand (passenger side) vent. I can live with this but after a week or so the AC was not producing cool air. I guess it has a leak. Took the car into an independent yesterday and today he has advised the Compressor is faulty and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately Lexus have discontinued this part.

The guy at Lexus parts reckoned this isn’t a common part to fail and an aftermarket of pattern replacement could be around £400 plus so I really need to know this is the most cost effective way of fixing this.

The issue with the air only coming from one side is something I can live with as long as the AC actually works, however if there is a way to diagnose and a possible fix for this I would be interested.

Thanks for any advice offered.

 

[ColinBarber]

Rockauto have aftermarket compressors for £150 + shipping + taxes + VAT. You would need to be double checked that the compressor on the RX330 is the same as the RX300. Otherwise you could get one from a scrapped RX300 in the UK but obviously you don't know how long that one may last given that it is going to be 15 years old.